Tuesday, December 30, 2008

US Military Planning for Civil Unrest

A newly released paper by the US Army War College warns that US troops may be needed to fight its own citizens who protest against economic conditions. The paper, written by Lt. Colonel Nathan Freir, is titled "Known Unknowns: Unconventional Strategic Shocks in Defense Strategy Development."1

If employed, this would not be the first time US forces faced combat against its own civilians. Although National Guard troops and police have frequently been called up to fight the public, regular army troops have also been used. The Bonus Army of 1932, for example, was a protest of 15,000 to 20,000 veterans and their families lasting several months, until US troops were brought in to apply the threat of deadly force against these people at the nation's capitol.2,3

Events within the US Civil War were contemptible even if the eventual result, the end of slavery, was right. Students of history are aware of General Sherman's atrocities. Others may be aware of the tens of thousand who died in prisons on both sides. Less well known, General U.S. Grant forced Jews out of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi.